Machine Translations Similar to Professionals for Spanish, Portuguese Discharge Instructions
By Elana Gotkine HealthDay Reporter
WEDNESDAY, June 12, 2024 -- For Spanish and Portuguese, machine translation platforms have comparable performance to professional translations for discharge instructions for pediatric conditions, but considerable shortcomings were seen for Haitian Creole, according to a study published online June 11 in Pediatrics.
Ryan C.L. Brewster, M.D., from the Boston Combined Residency Program in Pediatrics at Boston Children's Hospital and Boston Medical Center, and colleagues translated 20 standardized discharge instructions for pediatric conditions into Spanish, Brazilian Portuguese, and Haitian Creole by professional translation services, Google Translate, and ChatGPT-4.0 and assessed adequacy (preserved information), fluency (grammatical correctness), meaning (preserved connotation), and severity (clinical harm).
The researchers found that for Spanish and Portuguese, Google Translate and ChatGPT demonstrated similar domain-level ratings to professional translations. For Haitian Creole, professional translations demonstrated significantly greater adequacy, fluency meaning, and severity scores compared with both Google Translate and ChatGPT. More potentially clinically significant errors (severity score ≤3) were seen for ChatGPT and Google Translate than professional translations (33.3 and 23.3 percent, respectively, versus 8.3 percent) for Haitian Creole. Among the translation sources, professional Haitian Creole and Portuguese, but not Spanish, translations were more frequently preferred (48.3 and 43.3 percent, respectively, versus 15 percent).
"Our study provides key insights into the promise and limitations of using machine translation for clinical documents provided to families who speak languages other than English," the authors write.
Abstract/Full Text (subscription or payment may be required)
Editorial (subscription or payment may be required)
Disclaimer: Statistical data in medical articles provide general trends and do not pertain to individuals. Individual factors can vary greatly. Always seek personalized medical advice for individual healthcare decisions.
© 2024 HealthDay. All rights reserved.
Posted June 2024
Read this next
Rare Predicted Loss-of-Function Variants, Polygenic Risk Score Linked to Risk of A-Fib
THURSDAY, June 27, 2024 -- Rare predicted loss-of-function (pLOF) variants and a polygenic risk score (PRS) are associated with increased atrial fibrillation (AF) risk, according...
Glofitamab + GemOx Superior to Rituximab + GemOx for Lymphoma
WEDNESDAY, June 26, 2024 -- Glofitamab (Glofit) plus gemcitabine and oxaliplatin (GemOx) is superior to rituximab (R)-GemOx for relapsed/refractory (R/R) diffuse large B-cell...
Reported Symptoms Most Sensitive Indicator of Concussion
WEDNESDAY, June 26, 2024 -- Reported symptoms are a more accurate indicator of concussion than the 10-word component Standardized Assessment of Concussion (SAC), according to a...
More news resources
- FDA Medwatch Drug Alerts
- Daily MedNews
- News for Health Professionals
- New Drug Approvals
- New Drug Applications
- Drug Shortages
- Clinical Trial Results
- Generic Drug Approvals
Subscribe to our newsletter
Whatever your topic of interest, subscribe to our newsletters to get the best of Drugs.com in your inbox.